Austria: NA decided German remedial classes despite hard criticism

VIENNA: With the votes of ÖVP and FPÖ, the National Assembly on Thursday decided the controversial German classes. From the beginning of the school year, new beginners who can not sufficiently follow the lessons will be taught according to their own curriculum in their own classes. The opposition protested, but failed to enforce its referral back to the Education Commission.

The government see this action as an essential measure. There are lots of children who leave school and still can not speak German, said Rudolf Taschner (ÖVP) in the debate. “This is a sin against young people, and we must act quickly.” He appealed to the opposition, to put no obstacles in the way of that law, “The children will thank you.”

Gudenus: “SPÖ is gravedigger of the education system”

The FPÖ representative Wendelin Mölzer said “decades of failing educational policy and failed immigration and integration policies”, which are now being countered. The FP club boss Johann Gudenus endorsed the similar words. “The SPÖ is the gravedigger of the education system,” he said. She has “generations on her conscience” who have not learned enough German.

“They just tell lies here,” said SPÖ ex-education minister Sonja Hammerschmid. There is broad expert criticism on this law. Demands are not separation, but the fastest possible integration into the regular lesson. Hammerschmid criticised the “negligent politics on the back of the students and especially the educators” and appealed for the return to the start.

Criticism also from NEOS and list Pilz

NEOS CEO Matthias Strolz identified this act as “breaking of opportunities, of wings,” and symbolic politics from the government. The ÖVP and the FPÖ are simply engage with “serving the foreigner’s issue”, he criticized the move.

“They want to manage problems and not solutions.” Stephanie Cox (List Pilz) warned against separation and social exclusion.

Education Minister Heinz Fassmann (ÖVP) deny all the allegations. “The German remedial classes concept is a partially integrated, age-graded and time-limited measure,” he emphasized. It should be applied as short as possible in order to be able to transfer students into regular lessons. Austria hereby follows international role models. “We do not want to let them in start-up disadvantages, we want to ensure them greater opportunity in the long run,” claims the minister.__Krone.at